Fresh food grown from your own garden always tastes better than anything you buy in the shops. That is my main motivation for growing my own, along with the added benefit of knowing that no nasty chemicals have been used to grow the vegetables.
Even though I have only been growing veg for two years, my small patio (measuring 6.4m x 3.4m) has given me enough room to experiment and grow my favourite veg, from beetroot to beans, pak choi to peppers.
Here, I'll show you that with just a few simple techniques you can grow an abundance of food no matter what size your growing space is. There really is something special about rustling up a salad from leaves you've just picked or making a stirfry with vegetables grown just metres from the kitchen.
Ingrid Chiu is an avid veg grower and has been harvesting crops from her urban garden for the past few years - she is also starting an allotment this year. You can follow her growing adventures on Instagram @ingrid_grows_and_eats
Four ways to grow
Raised beds
I have grown a huge variety of vegetables in raised beds over the years, including broccoli, chillies, courgettes, salad leaves, kohlrabi, aubergines... the list goes on. I find the best use of space is to put a climbing vegetable such as beans or peas at the back of the raised bed so that it grows vertically up against the fence or wall. This means I still have the majority of the raised bed space for non-climbing veg.
If your space doesn't have a wall or fence, simply put two raised beds about 1m-1.5m apart and add a couple of arches across them - this will give you the same vertical growing space. I have a two-tier raised bed where I like to put fast-growing crops such as pak choi and radish in the front bed so that I can quickly and easily fill the gaps as and when I harvest something.
This story is from the April 2022 edition of Gardeners World.
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This story is from the April 2022 edition of Gardeners World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
A new plot for tasty crops
Taking on a new allotment needn't be hard work. By simply following a few easy tips you can have bumper crops in no time, just like Alessandro Vitale
We love July
July is an island floating between the joy of June and the slightly fatigued month of August. It's a grown-up month: the year has shrugged off its adolescent exuberances, the weather is (hopefully) warm enough for ice cream to be one of your five a day, the sea should be swimmable without (too much) danger of hypothermia and thoughts will be of holiday shenanigans and family barbecues. School's out this month, the next tranche of glorious summer colour is washing across our borders and it's my birthday. Lots of reasons to give three rousing cheers for July!
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